AI in Strategic Foresight: Reshaping Anticipatory Governance

AI’s growing role in strategic foresight is reshaping how experts anticipate and prepare for multiple plausible futures, as shown by insights from 167 practitioners across 55 countries who increasingly rely on AI to accelerate trend analysis, scenario development and the identification of emerging issues. Many participants highlight clear benefits, particularly AI’s ability to streamline repetitive tasks and process large datasets that reveal patterns difficult to detect manually. Yet the findings also expose significant concerns, including uneven access to AI tools, limitations in reliability and transparency, risks of biased or hallucinated outputs and the technology’s struggle to generate truly forward-looking insights. Differences in confidence and capability between sectors—especially between private-sector practitioners and those in the public sector constrained by security and regulatory requirements—underscore the need for clearer guidelines and expanded AI literacy. Overall, the results point to strong potential for AI to augment, rather than replace, human judgment in strategic foresight, enabling experts to devote more time to deep interpretation and critical analysis while navigating the technology’s challenges responsibly.

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